


Helping hand

by gutterfortunecookie



Category: Benedict Cumberbatch - Fandom, Doctor Strange (2016)
Genre: Angst, Bathroom Sex, Car Accidents, Drowning, F/M, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Memories, Near Death Experiences, Sex in a Car, Shooting, premature baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 04:54:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6690445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gutterfortunecookie/pseuds/gutterfortunecookie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Because I could not stop for Death –<br/>He kindly stopped for me –<br/>The Carriage held but just Ourselves –<br/>And Immortality...</p><p>~Emily Dickinson</p>
            </blockquote>





	Helping hand

 

 

 

Peace.

There was so much peace in the water.

The Hudson was filthy and completely freezing as she sank lower.

“Jo…”

She turned her head to the sound of the familiar voice belonging to her delusions before she hit the water. In the darkness of the river, she could see a shining light as something was reaching out to her.

_She looked up from her grill to the large hand that was stretched out inches from her face. She was still getting used to the hospital staff._

_“Can I help you?”_

_She looked down the arm belonging to one of the surgeons that had his face stuck in his smartphone. He looked up and she caught the eyes of… She cursed, not able to remember his name. Everyone talked about him, some good, some calling him a total ass._

_“Sorry, Norma usually has my omelet ready.”_

_“I’m not Norma if you’d pay attention and she quit. I’m the new midnight person.”_

_“What? Why?”_

_“I don’t know, it’s not my business. What can I get for you?”_

_“Nothing. Never mind.”_

_“Sure thing, Doctor,” she waved off._

_He was gone before she turned around._

_“Ass,” she mumbled._

_“That’s what they call me but I get the job done.”_

_She snapped her head up to see the doctor appear again with a grin on his face._

_“Look, I’m sorry. It’s my first night and you’re really the first person get something. Orientation was a bitch…”_

_“And the day shift?”_

_“Sticks up their asses. Every one of them.”_

_“You’ve only just meet them.”_

_“No, you, I’ve only just met. I’ve spent two weeks with these assholes.”_

_“That’s why I normally pack something. I’ll know better than to spend time with those that need to adjust themselves, their attitudes at most.”_

_“Well,” she said keeping her eyes to the steamtable, “My apologies, Doctor. I hope this encounter hasn’t messed with your appetite.”_

_He kept eye contact with her for what seemed like forever._

_“Three eggs, all veggies, no cheese, pinch of ham, do not be afraid of the spinach and I will take that and potatoes to go, Miss…”_

_“Josephine but Josie.”_

_“Well but Josie, welcome to the one of the many hospitals of New York, I’m Stephen.”_

_“Right.”_

_“Dr. Strange. Stephen Strange.”_

_She stayed quiet and worked quickly to finish his omelet. She folded it to perfection and placed it gently in the carry-out container with the oven baked potatoes, handing it to him without any acknowledgement as she wiped her hands and disappeared on the other side of the walk-in fridge._

_He smiled walking away back to his office for the added silence of 1am. He opened the top, only wanting a taste until he took a bite. The vegetables were tender enough with the eggs cooked all the way through. Stephen moaned as he took one bite after the other until his fork hit nothing but plastic. The meal was finished and he smiled to the full stomach that he had for the first time since he came to Northern Grace._

_He almost fell asleep on his paper work, shaking himself up as time pressed on. He was only called on for a brain bleed but the poor bastard was brain dead by the time he scrubbed in. By the time his shift was finally over, he gathered his things and headed to the cafeteria again for coffee. Hospital coffee wasn’t always his favorite but it kept him awake until he got home. He turned from the cash register with coffee in hand, seeing Josie nose deep in a pad and paper as she scrolled through her phone. His shoe was untied anyway so it wouldn’t have bothered to sit for just a moment before starting the journey to the employee garage._

_He took her in completely as he sat across from her, taking no notice to him as she scribbled faster. Her hazel eyes were covered in thick reading glasses and her faded black hair was pulled up high into a wavy ponytail._

_“I hate being on-call during the night. No good cases ever present themselves.”_

_She stopped her pen abruptly and slowly lifted her face, nearly questioning his statement._

_“Wait, wait, wait… Was there something that I said last night to make you think that this was all okay?”_

_“I wanted to give you some insight on the omelet you made.”_

_“It was an omelet. Did I not sprinkle enough gold powder for you?”_

_“Are you on your period? I can give you the number for a Gyno girl if your mood swings are too irregular.”_

_“Oh, it’s only day three but, wait, there’s more. I don’t know you, I don’t like you, I’m fairly new to the city and you do live up to your reputation of being an ass.”_

_“Well, pardon me for trying to pay you a compliment.”_

_“I can see right through you without even getting close to you. You’re an arrogant bastard living the high life with the hope to have a cute little sidekick to make your life bearable and comparable to mine. So excuse me for not being your Sancho Panza, capeesh?”_

_Stephen watched as Josie gathered her things and headed for the elevators. He was speechless as he gathered up his own coffee and made it in perfect time to his car to see rain pouring from the sky. Stephen was more than careful as he pulled out of the garage and waited in the morning traffic to head home. He turned his attention to the wet, faded hair belonging to Josie as she waited for her bus. There was no room where she was standing and offered the last possible spot to someone else as she stood in the downpour._

His hand reached farther for her as her lungs felt like they were on fire.

“Josie…”

Stephen.

She knew she was imaging things; the last things she knew she wanted to see before she died. She knew this feeling before, this was the second and last time…

_“Josie?”_

_“Yes, what can I get for you tonight?”_

_She looked up, seeing a small Yankee Candle perked upon the counter of her cash register._

_“What the hell is that?”_

_“Sorry, I though you knew a peace offering when you saw one.”_

_Stephen held out a card in his hand. She was a bit skeptical at first to take it until he placed the card on top of the salad scale in front of her face._

_“I’m realizing now that I don’t talk to people in the way that they think I do. The longest conversation I’ve had in the past year was with you and the omelet. It was very delicious but not as good as mine.”_

_“Is this still attempting to be a compliment?”_

_“Hear me out, please. I want to start over, we don’t have to be friends but you are new and it’s good to have at least one acquaintance in the city. Maybe next midnight shift, if you’re standing in the rain, you won’t have to single handedly win New York’s November Rain t-shirt contest.”_

_“You shouldn’t worry your pretty little head for me. I normally do good alone and I’m sure somewhere under all of that Armani, there’s a somewhat decent guy that got me a Christmas Gift because he fabulously insulted me. Let’s see how sorry he really is,” she joked as she reached for the card._

_She pulled out a gift card from Amazon and laughed for the first time._

_“Fifty dollars? I guess we’re finally at a truce, Dr. Strange.”_

_A shot rang out in the hallway in front of the cafeteria as Josie and Stephen jumped from their skin while the candle shattered from a bullet. A second shot sent Josie forward as she grabbed Stephen’s hand and ran for the pizza station. They both scrambled over the counter as more bullets were fired from the same direction. Stephen cried out as he twisted his ankle. Josie turned and grabbed a frying pan as she flung it at the sobbing woman pointing the revolver straight for Stephen’s back. The pan hit the woman’s arm as a shot was fired between them._

_He looked up to Josie holding the bloody side of her arm as she pulled open the refrigerator door. The light was turned off as she reached up and pulled the knob down from the inside to lock them in. Josie bit back her tears as she pulled them behind the bread cart to the floor for cover._

_“Josie…”_

_He pushed two boxes of chicken breasts on either sides of his ankle to keep it straight for the time being. In the darkness, he could hear more shots being fired and Josie as her breath became more and more shallow._

_“Josie? Say something!”_

_She slumped on the floor next to him as he pulled her to his lap. Stephen screamed until help came a little while later. He and Josie were both rushed to the ER. His ankle would be fine but she was suffering from blood loss and a blood clot on her brain from when she hit her head passing out._

_There was nothing he could do with his ankle as he waited for her the next morning. He wheeled himself into her room as people from HR were leaving. Josie had tears in her eyes as he stopped on her side of the bed._

_“Just so you know, it’s never that exciting around here. On occasion, someone will streak around the ER naked but… never something like that.”_

_“It was a mother that just lost her child.”_

_Stephen wasn’t sure of what to say._

_“She lost her child upstairs and was coming for a cup of coffee. She shot someone because they told her to have a good night.”_

_“Things like that happened.”_

_“Yeah? I saved us both and it just got me fired.”_

_“What?”_

_Josie broke down in tears as Stephen tried hard to understand._

_“I fought back and HR said she could sue us and my only option was to resign peacefully. Do things like that always happen, Dr. Strange?”_

_“Look. Everything is going to be okay. You were shot at as well as me. You had a brain bleed that should have killed you but now you are alive. Fuck the staff here. I have a friend that works at Belleview. It’s not exactly Northern Grace but so many people quit there all the time. You saved my life. The least I can do is put in a good word for you.”_

_Josie wiped her tears and smiled to him._

_“Thank you, Stephen.”_

_“Always glad to help an acquaintance.”_

_Stephen took her hand, having it feel so strange locked with hers._

She could feel the palm of his hand on her fingertips but she didn’t want to be saved, not by him.

“Josie, please!”

_Three months in and Stephen couldn’t wonder why he was being invited to a fellow surgeon’s wedding. At least he remembered the guy’s name a fair amount of the time. He looked to the invitation one last time as he remembered the RSVP. Stephen had forgotten to look for a date as he scurried through his phone with no success._

_“God dammit!”_

_So many things were going through his mind as he left his apartment and waited in the smooth moving traffic. He slipped his finger under his tie to pull it enough to be bearable. He looked up at the last minute to the entrance of the Belleview hospital as wispy strands of platinum blonde that got his attention. The face it belonged to answered his prayers as he quickly pulled out his phone to call in a favor for the night._

_When the call ended, he pulled to the curb and lowered his driver side window._

_“Josephine!”_

_She stopped in her tracks and looked around until she spotted Stephen smiling from his Jag._

_“Well, well. Look who finally crawled out of the woodworks, Dr. Strange.”_

_“Get in the car.”_

_“That’s the first thing you say to me after three months?”_

_“Fine. Hello, Ms. Frank. You are looking well as is your lovely ass. I need your help now, get in!”_

_“Fine, fine. Shit…”_

_She pulled her jacket together and slid in the front seat, wondering if it was the right choice._

_“This has to be the classiest Uber I’ve ever taken.”_

_“Good God, your one of those?”_

_“Yeah. So, what? Am I helping you hide a dead body or what?”_

_“We’re going to a wedding and I need a date.”_

_“Sucks to be you. I don’t own a dress.”_

_“Not for long.”_

_Before she could answer, the Jag pulled up again to a different curb where a man with a dress box was waiting. He shoved the box to Josephine’s lap and wished Stephen a lovely night as the wheels turned into the night._

_“Change in the backseat.”_

_“The car is moving.”_

_“Ms. Frank, I have the steadiest of hands in Manhattan. You’ll be safe with me. Now get dressed or I’ll do it for you.”_

_Josephine sighed as she moved into the back and opened the box._

_“I’m not wearing this, Stephen.”_

_“Why? It should be your size.”_

_“How… never mind. It’s too beautiful.”_

_“Last warning, put it on, Josie. There should be heels in there as well.”_

_He did everything in his power to keep his eyes forward as Josie changed in lightning speed. She pulled her hair from her bun as it cascaded over her shoulder. He pulled up to the parking garage of the hotel, finding a space near the front as he parked and stepped out, hurrying to the other side of the car._

_Stephen opened the door and was nearly thrown for a loop as he led the newly dressed Josie from the Jag as he took in the sight of her. The lace sleeves of the dress hugged at her shoulders and the rest flowed over other parts of her body as she matted down her hair the best she could. She reached for her earrings until Stephen shot his hand up to stop her._

_“Wait! Keep them in. They suit you.”_

_Stephen grabbed her things and shoved them in her bag as they made their way to the main lobby of the hotel. He left the bag with the coat attendant and pulled her along to the vibrantly decorated room of guests already deep in champagne._

_“They’re having the wedding here?”_

_“No,” said Stephen as he grabbed a glass of champagne for him and Josie, “I had surgery but I promised to make it in time for the reception.”_

_“And you have to bring a date and were lucky to get me.”_

_“I don’t believe in luck.”_

_“Shame,” she grinned as she accepted the second glass from Stephen._

_The evening seemed to stretch forever. He mingled in with Chief of Surgeries, board members, all people high in the corporate ranks of the hospitals as he searched for Josie that had disappeared after being swept away for a dance or two. He looked for a simple reason to leave the conversations that poured into his ears. Luckily, Josie saw the worn look on his face and pulled him away to the dance floor as he sighed in relief._

_“Thank you, that was completely devastating to my mental health.”_

_“Always glad to help an acquaintance, Dr. Strange.”_

_He stayed as close as he could to Josie while they drank the night away. He could tell there was something different about her. The way she threw her head threw back in laughter, the way she rejected dances from a few many of the male guests. She was different from the flocks of sheep that surrounded him from day to day and it was as refreshing as it was exciting. He let his inebriated instincts take over as he leaned forward and kissed her on the lips._

_The thought had never crossed his mind before but when his lips pressed honestly to hers, it felt so right. He waited for the second for her to push away as she slowly accepted his kiss. Josie pulled herself away and was shocked for a moment as she refused to look Stephen in the eyes. She rushed away for the restroom when Stephen cursed to himself to what he had done._

_“Josie?”_

_He called into the restroom, listening for anyone else as he looked over his_

_shoulder to the lively reception. He barreled in, taking Josie by surprise as she looked to the door over his shoulder._

_“What are you d-”_

_He originally wanted to talk to her and apologize but he couldn’t stop himself as he pressed her into the wall and kissed her again. Josie didn’t fight him off this time as she held the sides of his neck and deepened the kiss._

_“I’m sorry, Josie…”_

_“No, you’re not.”_

_He pulled her from her feet and lead her into one of the stalls as he gathered up the bottom of her gown. Josie shoved him back into the stall as she tried to regain her breath._

_“I-I can’t…”_

_“Why not?”_

_“Don’t you have a girlfriend?”_

_He smiled, closing the space between them as Josie pressed herself against the polished stall wall._

_“No. I don’t have anyone else.”_

_“And you think you can win me over,” she teased._

_“I find you out of everyone I know tolerable.”_

_“That’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”_

_Stephen kissed her again as he slipped his hands under her dress. Josie molded to this man, the one she only knew for a short time and found him tolerable as well. He wrapped her legs around his waist as he pulled the edge of her panties to the side and felt her. They both jumped as they heard the restroom door thunder open with a large group of girls clamoring in drunk. Stephen pressed his lips to Josie’s as she slowly undid his trousers and pushed them down._

_He put a finger to his wicked lips and covered her mouth as he pushed into her with one thrust. Her head fell back to the stall as her eyes sealed shut. She kept her lips together as she grabbed Stephen’s arm to keep herself upright. Josie pulled his hand away and jerked him forward by the collar as she quietly moaned into his lips. Stephen moved his arms under her legs to hold her open as he thrusted into her. The wave of girls continued to come in and out of the bathroom as Stephen and Josie remained in the stall, slowly stripping as they pawed at each other’s body._

_When all was silent, Josie looked to the door and opened her mouth to moan into Stephen’s ear as she reached her peak. Stephen followed, smiling as he was still motionless with her. He turned his head, smelling her skin as he panted into her neck. His head started to spin as he pulled away from her and placed her on her feet. He pulled her close again as she teetered in her heels._

_Stephen saw the flush of her skin, her hair a bit messed up and the dress still bunched up in certain places. It was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. He pressed his forehead to hers and kissed her lips to bring her back to him._

_“Josephine? Say something…”_

_She opened her eyes as tears began to fall. He stepped forward to her as she backed into the door. She unlocked it and fled from Stephen._

_“Josie!”_

_She returned a second later as she reached into Stephen’s pocket and snatched away the coat room ticket without a word to him. She turned and disappeared as Stephen was let alone, confused and slightly drunk._

_Josie didn’t know why she was running or crying for that matter._

_“No. No. No…”_

_It was all she could think or make sense of._

“No.”

He looked so different now. Worn and matured like a leather boot. He looked just like an angel as his skin glowed. She remembered that the Devil was an angel too. But she knew Stephen or at least she thought she knew. Her insides were threatening to cease as she used the last of her strength to close her hand to his.

_Josie giggled, wiping her nose clean as she inhaled more. She felt her eyes spinning as she pushed herself up from the couch with her body standing in the waves of the bass speakers. They moved her along through the party as she reached for a coat that wasn’t hers and pulled the arms into the oversized sleeves. With her luck, the person the jacket belonged to would overdose by the time she woke up in the morning._

_She was new to the world of taking drugs, especially when she never was a pill-popper to begin with. The coke was quick affect her as she stumbled in her high heels. Josie stopped and turned for the elevator instead of the stair. Stairs plus heels, in the condition she was already in meant broken bones, leading her to the hospital and hospitals weren’t her thing anymore._

_She quit working for the hospital and ended up in a second-hand store. The money was shit as was the apartment she shared but as long as she didn’t see Steven again, it would all be worth it. The shooting gave her endless nightmares and the clandestine bathroom sex with Stephen left her confused and terrified for the first time in her life._

_It wasn’t right, none of it was right but she did what she did best. She cut of any poisonous ties and moved forward, doing anything possible to cope._

_The late June night filled her with unseen bits of energy as she smiled and pointed herself south. Hopefully, the front door would be unlocked but she concluded that she no longer cared. She only wanted to close her eyes and disappear._

_She felt a strong hand at her waist as she turned to find a greasy little man at her side._

_“Get off.”_

_“Wanna help with that, baby?”_

_She pushed him off as she continued forward only for him to grab her arm. She pushed him off again as the screech of tires and blaring car horns filled her ears._

_“No!”_

_“Bitch!”_

_She felt a firm hand grab her elbow and spin her. Josie was ready to claw her way out as she did so many times before but stopped in her tracks as she saw Stephen in front of her, dressed in a suit and tie. If this was to go down the same road as the wedding reception, then it was best now to just walk away from him._

_“Are you alright? Did he hurt you?”_

_“No.”_

_The man ran away down the street as Josie started off again in the opposite direction._

_“Josephine?!”_

_“Have a good night, Doctor.”_

_Her ankle went weak for a second as she fell forward only to be caught by Stephen as he lifted her from the sidewalk and into his car. She was too hit to try and fight him off as he strapped her in and locked the door. Stephen pulled the car away with ease as Josie looked out the window._

_“Aren’t you going to ask me where I live?”_

_“No need. I’ve seen four people coming to the ER from OD’ing in the month from your apartment. Since when do you do drugs?”_

_“Since it turned into my business. Now you’re stalking me?”_

_“I wanted to make sure that you were alright since you dropped off the face of the earth.”_

_“I had my reasons.”_

_“Look, if I scared you…”_

_“Shut up.”_

_“We need to talk this out…”_

_“I’m not talki…”_

_“I obviously did somethi…”_

_“I said shut up!”_

_“No!”_

_“SHUT UP!”_

_Josie swung at Stephen’s shoulders as much as the seatbelt would allow. Stephen protected himself as much as he could as he pulled into a clear parking garage. He left the motor running as he unbuckled himself and pinned down Josie’s hands to the car seat._

_“Josephine! Stop this now!”_

_“I hate you,” she shrieked._

_He let her hands go as her chest heaved._

_“No, you don’t.”_

_She looked up at the last second as Stephen lunged forward and kissed Josephine on her lips. She was in no position to deny him what she wanted so badly. Of the time they spent together, he had gotten under her skin in the best way possible and it pained her to admit that she wanted him just as much as he wanted her._

_Stephen reached for the seat lever as he pulled it, sending them both back as Stephen braced himself over Josie. He pulled at his own clothes so she wouldn’t ruin the dress suit for the award ceremony practically an hour away as he pulled down, pushed up her clothes, whatever made it possible for him to feel her skin. He snaked between her hips as his lips kissed a trial down her neck to the top of her chest. He stopped for a moment to get Josie’s attention, which worked as she waited for him._

_“Don’t shut me out, Josie. I need you. Please…”_

_She shook her head, not knowing what to say but, then again, it didn’t really need to be said. He kissed her lips passionately, something he’d never done before as he pulled her close to him. Stephen lifted her hips and filled her as the breath was taken from her lungs._

_The sound of her voice filling the cramped space of the small car was music to his ears as her nails raked the back of his neck, giving him the confidence he was looking for to ensure that she needed, no, wanted him._

_He could hear her heels scrapping at the dashboard, possibly even ruining the interior but he didn’t care. He moaned into her neck, making her cry out louder for him as he thrusted faster into her._

_“Talk to me, Josie,” he panted as she grabbed the seat underneath her._

_“Don’t stop, Stephen,” she moaned._

_“Make me believe it.”_

_“I want you, Stephen! I want this!”_

_She pulled him down and kissed his lips as he bought every word. He was amazed by her in every way, despite of her situation. He couldn’t let her run herself into the ground when he knew he could help her. She cried out, digging her nails into his arms as she came. Her skin sweat from the drugs but more from him as he shuttered into her ear, finally ending their tryst. He looked up around him to the steamed windows, then down to Josie._

_Her hands still clung to him like a child as she was slowly starting to regain her breath. She moaned as Stephen slowly pulled himself away from her. He fixed their clothes and opened the car door as he tumbled to the ground with a smile on his face. The feeling of happiness washed over him like Josie’s oversized jacket as she moved from the car._

_“Josephine? Where are you going?”_

_“Vicious circle. I have to break this shit.”_

_“So that’s it then?”_

_She turned, still trying to catch her breath._

_“How did you expect this to go?! You fuck me and then what? You whisk me away to your palace and we live happily ever after? You’re bad fucking news bears and… I just need to stay away from you.”_

_“So you’re blaming me for the shit you’ve been through?”_

_“Have a great life and get fucked, Dr. Strange.”_

_“Fine. You know what? Fuck you, junkie. I’ll see you in the ER before you OD.”_

_“I hope you crash your fucking car!”_

_She walked herself out of the garage as Stephen drove the opposite way. She numbed herself and wouldn’t allow anything else in. Josie allowed the pattern to stay the same. After a while, she stopped going to her apartment as let once bliss after another filled her with anything but reality. She knew sooner or later, her body would change from all the drugs and the half-naked guys she pushed off of her when they were finished._

_In the blink of an eye, it was winter again as she stumbled into the midnight street. It was only the beginning of March but she knew how to walk on ice in heels. In the lone darkness, the street was hers. The cold kept her feeling something but the warmth was something she missed. It was a protective warmth. She missed it so badly, she closed her eyes and wished to see Stephen again._

_“Stephen…”_

The blare of the car behind her without any head lights hit her as she tumbled across the side of the road and into the freezing river.

Death was so reassuring but she accepted Stephen’s vision and was pulled from the water as warm air touched her skin. Her whole body was in pain as a blur of white came to her side.

“No! I have this.”

She could hear Stephen’s voice as a calmer one filled her ear.

“This will hurt…”

Her throat felt like it was on fire as she opened her mouth and watched all the disgusting water she swallowed fall to the worn brick floor. She gasped for breath, shaking uncontrollably as Stephen wrapped his arms around her.

“Breathe, Josephine, breathe.”

She did as she was told and screamed as her body pulsed in pain.

“What’s happening?”

Stephen threw off his gloves and assessed her wounds. It wasn’t until Stephen lifted her shirt and stopped in shock. His eyes turned to the white blur as they switched places. Stephen’s hand glowed as she started to close her eyes.

“Stephen…”

She sobbed as the pain got worse.

“I know, Josie. Just hold on. I’ll still be right here.”

Her stomach felt as if it was being ripped apart as she passed out from the pain.

“Josie…”

She could see his face again as she opened her eyes but she had to be dead. There was no other explanation. He smoothed back her hair as she heard a scream. No, a wail. No. She was imagining it all.

“Josephine?”

She woke as she looked around the room. The walls were made of stone and brick. The nauseating smell of the city was gone and fresh air filled her lungs. She turned to Stephen as she knelt to the side of the small bed.

“Am I dead?”

“Far from it,” he smiled.

It was strange to see him smile.

“What happened?”

“You were in an accident. I sensed it and pulled you from the water.”

“You were in the water…”

Everything started to come back to her as her heart started to race.

“He saved you both.”

Josie turned to the familiar blur of white that was beside her when she coughed up all the water. She couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman as they stepped forward with a content grin.

“The only reason you are alive is because of the bond between you two. Something inside of you saved your life.”

“I thought you said both.”

She felt Stephen’s hand squeeze hers as he reached over to the side of the bed and picked up a bit of gathered blankets in his arms. Josie didn’t understand until she looked into the blankets and saw a small wrapped baby protected by a low humming field of energy. Her jaw dropped as she tried to steady her shaking arms.

“Is th… A-Are you punking me?”

“The child is real, Josephine. He saved your life.”

“It’s a boy?”

Tears fell from her eyes as she looked down to the rather small infant.

“Yes, our boy.”

Stephen kissed the side of her head as she clutched the baby. She tried to quiet herself as being reached into the glow and stroked the baby’s small head. Now that she saw, the baby was rather small from what she had seen.

“Is he okay? I-I didn’t know…”

“He is not ready yet but he fought. He is cleansed as are you, child. He will take his breath when he is ready.”

“What?”

“In order to save him, we had to take him out and heal him. He has another few weeks before he is ready for us.”

“But he’s here. I’m holding him right now.”

“You both took a great amount of damage when you were hit. He’ll let us know when he is ready.”

“You will still grow with him as well, that way he be properly nourished and grow into the boy I have envisioned. I’ll leave you both now.”

They were left alone as Stephen took back the baby and placed him in the woven cradle. He turned to leave as Josie caught his wrist at the last second.

“No.”

“You need to rest.”

“I’m sorry, Stephen. For everything that I said. You were right, I was scared.”

“I forgive you,” he said with a smile.

He waved his hand as worn regular clothes took their place. He moved to the other side of the bed and joined Josie as he wrapped his arm around her waist. It was a strange feeling as they both moved closer to the cradle.

“Does he have a name?”

“No. I wanted to make sure you were awake first.”

“What if I didn’t wake up?”

He lifted his hand to show the surface of his skin glow.

“I have steady hands, I never doubted the worst for a minute.”

“What happened to you?”

“I crashed the car after you walked off and landed in the river. It’s a long story for another time.”

Nothing had to be said. She was safe and she was in his arms as he pulled her close. The contact of his skin made her want to cry after so much time without him had passed.

“I like Stephen,” she sighed as she watched the small rifts of energy clash into one another.

He kissed her washed hair and lowered the curtains to block them off from the world a bit longer.

Josie laced her fingers with his as he brought their hands up to his lips and kissed her skin.

“I do too.”


End file.
